A group of US senators introduced a bill requiring reporting on the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador.
THE “El Salvador Cryptocurrency Liability Law“, submitted by Senator James Risch, Senator Bob Menendez and Senator Bill Cassidy, demands that the Secretary of State, in coordination with other relevant federal departments and agencies, submit a report on the adoption of bitcoin as a currency The report should include an assessment of the regulatory framework in El Salvador and the potential impact of bitcoin adoption on macroeconomic stability, democratic governance, and the flow of remittances from the United States to El Salvador.
The bill also provides a plan to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system posed by the adoption of cryptocurrency as legal tender in El Salvador and any other country that uses the U.S. dollar as legal tender. According to the bill, the plan must be submitted to the appropriate congressional committees no later than 90 days after the report required by paragraph (a).
The Bitcoin Law, passed by the Salvadoran government in June 2021, gives Bitcoin legal tender status in the country. This decision was criticized by some experts, who argued that it could lead to instability in the country’s economy. Others, however, saw the move as a potential catalyst for broader bitcoin adoption in the region. Despite the controversy surrounding the move, El Salvador has remained committed to its Bitcoin adoption plans.